The Museum is proud to present
the oldest
postal card in our collection, dating from June
4, 1885. Below is the first postcard
purchased by Dr. Neil Jan Gale at a
collectables fair in the summer of 1967, jump-starting his
lifelong love of
postcard collecting. Although there is no image
on this card, it
was the oldest postmarked postal card he could find that day.

A misprinted
postcard is a very rare find. A misprinted
"I Will" postcard is equivalent to winning the
same lottery jackpot two consecutive times! The
printed error on this card is on the back
side. On the left-hand side is the vertical
copyright. Chicago is misspelled as CHIVAGO.
This one is kept locked in our vault.

A late 19th
century example of quality embossing. The
detail is astounding. You can see very small
details like the bricks in the building. It
is hand painted with two colors highlighting
the embossing even more.